UNC Athletics Posts 82 Percent Graduation Success Rate

Data released by the NCAA on Tuesday covering the cohort of academic years 2006-2009 showed that UNC posted a Graduation Success Rate of 82 percent during that time.

This measurement looks at student-athlete graduation rates by team, and takes into account student-athletes who are on scholarship their first year and graduate from their respective university–or transfer to another university or professional opportunities while in good academic standing.

While the national GSR average–across all sports–is 84 percent, UNC had seven of its teams score 100 percent in their respective GSRs.

Those teams include: women’s fencing, field hockey, women’s golf, gymnastics, women’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis and volleyball.

In total, 15 sports exceeded 80 percent on their GSRs–while 16 teams topped the national average for their particular sport.

Notably missing from the lists, however, were the football team and the men’s and women’s basketball teams.

“Graduation rates, regardless of the way they are measured, may fluctuate over a short period of time due to a number of factors, including personnel changes, transfers and student-athletes pursuing their professional dreams,” UNC Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham said, in a statement released by the university.

“The traditional timeline for completing a degree does not fit all of our students.”

Cunningham succeeded Dick Baddour as Athletic Director in 2011 at the dawn of the school’s academic scandal–meaning the results from this data pre-date his arrival in Chapel Hill

“The Graduation Success Rates in this four-year cohort were not as high as we want, but we have made a concerted effort over the last five years to drive improvements,” Cunningham said. “We have made good progress and are seeing the impact of our work, which will continue to drive increases in graduation rates in the coming years.”